The president’s re-election campaign has filed numerous lawsuits alleging voter fraud or other “suspicious” activity at polling places.
President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has announced lawsuits intended to stop votes from being counted in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The commander-in-chief has also lashed out against officials in other states with close races, as well as those which have been called for his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden. Alongside demanding that officials stop counting ballots in the Rust Belt, the Trump campaign wants a recount in Wisconsin and is accusing several Georgia locations of accepting absentee ballots that arrived after the mail-in cutoff.
USA Today reports that the lawsuits were announced shortly before Biden was predicted to win Michigan—a hotly contested state that Trump barely managed to win in 2016.
Even though Michigan still had tens of thousands of ballots left to be counted when the suit was first filed, most of those remaining were absentee ballots expected to skew towards Democratic candidates.
While the Trump campaign has stopped short of demanding that Michigan toss any ballots, it is asking that counties be compelled to “review” those votes “which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access.”
The campaign is pursuing a similar line of attack in Pennsylvania, with Trump supporters claiming the state’s count suffers from “transparency” problems.
Furthermore, President Trump himself has threatened that, if states do not bend to his will, he will ask the Supreme Court to intervene. In Pennsylvania, for instance, an extended deadline allows absentee ballots to be accepted and counted so long as they were postmarked by November 3rd—something Trump believes is not legal.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and the president’s personal attorney, said the campaign’s moves are not intended to “steal” the election but are meant to ensure rule of law.
“We’re not going to steal this election,” Giuliani said in a press conference on Wednesday. “This election is going to be decided by the people.”
However, Trump—and Giuliani—have both declared the president’s electoral victory in states with close races that have not yet been called.
Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, similarly said that Biden’s razor-thin win in Wisconsin cannot be trusted.
“Wisconsin has been a razor-thin race as we always knew it would be,” Stepien said. “There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results.
“The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so,” he added.
Despite Trump’s insistence that he is will positioned to retain the White House, Biden appears well-positioned to take the presidency, provided he keeps his lead in several contested states.
“It’s clear that we’re winning enough states to win 270 electoral votes,” Biden said earlier this week. “I’m not here to declare that we won. But I am here to report when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”
Sources
Trump campaign says it is suing to stop Michigan and Pennsylvania ballot counts
Trump campaign sues over ballot counting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia
Trump sues in Michigan, Pennsylvania; seeks recount in Wisconsin
Join the conversation!